Charitable Donations & Grants


Advancing patient care and medical education

At Cook Medical, we feel that we have a responsibility that goes beyond developing and manufacturing useful and effective medical devices – we want to be an active partner with organizations that are looking for ways to enhance patient care and healthcare professional education. Partnering in this way ties to our fundamental belief that it is possible to do good business and do good in the medical community, too.

Before applying, please read the information below about our program and the different types of grants and donations we consider. This will help you understand your organization’s or event’s eligibility for each type of grant or donation.

What types of organizations do we support?

  • Nonprofit and nonreferral organizations
  • Healthcare professionals acting on behalf of health care institutions, including hospitals, medical schools, national associations, continuing medical education (CME) providers, and medical societies

What types of support do we offer?

  • Financial
  • Products
  • In-kind services

What types of programs align with our goals?

  • Patient and public disease awareness and education
  • Patient education or medical advocacy by groups for disease awareness
  • Product donations for underserved patients in developing nations where the product is commercially available as part of a recognized, experienced program (e.g., Doctors Without Borders)
  • Accredited fellowship and residency programs at educational institutions to advance medical education
  • Conference grants to educational institutions or medical societies for healthcare professionals-in- training (defined as medical students, interns, residents, fellows, and nursing students)
  • Professional medical society meetings
  • Third-party educational conferences
  • Advancement of medical technology in:
    • Aortic Intervention
    • Critical Care
    • Endoscopy
    • Interventional Radiology
    • Peripheral Intervention
    • Urology

Principles of our program

  • Excessive gifts and other transfers of value make healthcare more expensive and can cause increased burden on public payment systems. Governments and the general public have also shown increasing concern that money, products, and influence from the healthcare industry could interfere with the physician-patient relationship. To this end, government guidance, industry standards, and best practices suggest removing sales and marketing from the charitable donations and grants process. Cook Medical has done this with the implementation of our charitable donations and grants process. Only the Review Board makes the final decision on grant applications.
  • Disclosures: It is Cook Medical’s policy to comply with laws around the world that apply to public disclosure of certain transfers of value to healthcare professionals. We have one global program that covers external applicable standards for transparency.
  • Bribery: It is a long-standing policy of Cook Medical and a part of our company values that we do not buy business or tolerate bribery.
  • We will not provide charitable donations, grants, or products in exchange for business.
  • Grants must be used for the purpose designated in the application. We do not provide unrestricted grants (e.g., open funds available for any random use). Applications must specify the intended use and provide a clear budget.
  • Amount awarded may be less than the amount requested. Plan ahead by applying for support well in advance and from multiple sources.
  • Cook Medical does not consider requests for products that are:
    • Not commercially available
    • Stock items on backorder
    • Non-stock items
    • Custom-made items
    • Items that will be used or demonstrated for use in an off-label indication
    • Not approved and licensed for sale in the country where the product will be used
    • Products that require a pharmaceutical license
    • Products that are not manufactured or distributed by Cook
    • All requests must meet your own institutional, local, national, and regional requirements. We cannot provide support for events that have already occurred.

Types of donations and grants

Please read the following descriptions carefully to identify which most closely fits your request. When you enter the online application system, you will need to select which type of donation or grant. If you are not sure which donation or grant type fits your request, contact the regional grants administrator for your region.

Charitable donations

Grants for charitable programs

These donations are for programs that serve charitable purposes, such as medical care for underserved patients in developing nations, or patient or public education in locations where the products are commercially available. Donations must be for bona fide charitable purposes and can be made only to charitable organizations or other non-profit entities with bona fide charitable and/or philanthropic purposes. These donations are also available for events where proceeds are intended for charitable purposes.

Product donations for charitable programs

These donations are for programs that serve charitable purposes, such as medical care for underserved patients in developing nations where the products are commercially available, or patient or public education. Donations must be for bona fide charitable purposes and can be made only to charitable organizations or other non-profit entities with bona fide charitable and/or philanthropic purposes. These donations are also available for events where proceeds are intended for charitable purposes.

Requests for product that will be used at third-party educational conferences or programs for healthcare professionals, please see below, “Product donations for third-party educational use.”

Educational grants

Grants for third-party educational conferences

These grants are for use by educational institutions, medical societies, or other third parties to request financial support for educational conferences, seminars, or professional society meetings that they are organizing.

  • The meeting must be bona fide and educational, scientific, or policymaking.
  • The meeting must promote scientific knowledge, medical advancement, and the delivery of effective healthcare.
  • The meeting must be independent of Cook Medical, meaning Cook Medical cannot select speakers or control content, methods, or materials.
  • The meeting must follow the Standards for Commercial Support as established by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME.org) to avoid losing continuing medical education accreditation in the US or from any other entity that accredits continuing medical education.
  • Grants cannot be used for exhibit fees or other fee-for-service arrangements.

Cook Medical is not permitted to sponsor educational conferences or programs that are organized by healthcare institutions that restrict attendance to their own healthcare professionals who are not in training.

Requests by medical societies or educational institutions for grants to provide scholarships to healthcare-professionals-in-training, please see below, “Conference grants for HCPs-in-training.”

Product donations for third-party educational use

These grants are for products that will be used at third-party educational conferences or programs for healthcare professionals. Cook Medical cannot control the program content. (These product donations cannot be used for Cook Medical-organized product training or for institutions that are training their own staff only.)

Cook Medical does not consider requests for products that are:

  • Not commercially available
  • Stock items on backorder
  • Non-stock items
  • Custom-made items
  • Items that will be used or demonstrated for use in an off-label indication
  • Not approved and licensed for sale in the country where the product will be used
  • Products that require a pharmaceutical license
  • Products that are not manufactured or distributed by Cook

Conference grants for HCPs-in-training

These grants are for educational institutions or medical societies that wish to support the educational advancement of healthcare-professionals-in-training (HCPs-in-training), defined as medical students, interns, residents, fellows, and nursing students. The requesting institution or society is responsible for selecting the beneficiaries of the grant. Some governments and institutions have their own requirements for making these selections.

Keep the following things about educational grants in mind:

  • Educational grants are provided to training institutions or conference sponsors to support healthcare professionals who are in training and who have been selected by the training institution or conference.
  • Educational grants will be given only for the support of legitimate expenses for bona fide educational activities.
  • Grants must be consistent with conference standards.

Note: Cook Medical cannot review applications that are submitted by individual HCPs-in-training or provide grants for education directly to HCPs-in-training. Institutions must apply for educational grants.

Grants for fellowship or residency programs

These grants are for accredited fellowship or residency programs offered by healthcare institutions for HCPs-in-training (defined as medical students, interns, residents, fellows, and nursing students). The requesting institution or society is responsible for selecting the beneficiaries of the grant. Some governments and institutions have their own requirements for making these selections.

Outside the scope of our program

Items that generally fall outside the Cook Medical Global Charitable Donations & Grants Program include:

  • Unrestricted grants to individuals or group practices – all grants are restricted to specific, documented requests as they have been approved
  • Disaster relief (e.g., earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, fires, mudslides, military conflict)
  • Personal travel
  • Mass-media productions that are not associated with educational content (for example, CD-ROMs, webcasts, journal supplements, etc.)
  • General development (for example, individual leadership training)
  • Travel fellowships for healthcare professionals (HCPs)
  • Capital campaigns (such as building or expansion funds and operating expenses such as office equipment or staff, computer hardware or software, medical library resources, etc.)
  • Website or social media development that is not associated with an accredited educational program
  • Service contracts
  • Religious programs
  • Entertainment (for example, sporting events, concerts, milestone celebrations, etc.)
  • Fundraising events
  • General capital
  • Textbooks and journal subscriptions
  • Exhibits (For exhibit space and corporate sponsorship opportunities, please contact your local Cook Medical sales representative or send an email our Global Cook Events team.)
  • Research grants. Cook Medical is not currently accepting research grant applications.

Application submission timelines

AMER and APAC organizations – Fully completed applications must be received at least 60 days prior to the project or program start date.

EMEA organizations – Fully completed applications must be received at least 90 days prior to the project or program start date.